Archbishop Coutts

Archbishop Joseph Coutts was born on July 21, 1945 at Amritsar, India. He was ordained a priest on Jan. 9, 1971 in Lahore. He was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Hyderabad on May 5, 1988. Pope John Paul II appointed him then Bishop of Faisalabad diocese, where he was installed on Sept. 25, 1998. He succeeded Bishop John Joseph who took his own life as a protest against anti-Christian bias in Pakistan.

On Jan. 25, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Joseph Coutts Archbishop of Karachi. The new archbishop was installed in Karachi on March 17. He succeeds Archbishop Evarist Pinto, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

Archbishop Coutts is the National Director of Caritas Pakistan and is actively involved in inter-faith dialogue with Muslims. He is also the president of Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference. A doctor of philosophy, he can speak several languages including English, Italian, German, French, Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.